I'm in an interesting position these days - I'm a distance learner on an MA course that utilises VLEs and I teach English courses which are face to face and also make use of Blackboard Vista as a learning content management system. So I'm getting to look at VLEs from the viewpoint of both educator and student.
As a student and as a teacher the clear advantage of the VLE is knowing that it's a one stop-shop for everything you need to know about the course. It's very reassuring for the geographically distant student (once you've got the hang of the tools and navigation). It's especially handy when you're not in sync with the other course participants who attend face to face classes so you can catch up, read ahead and so on without having to check in with the course leader all the time. The students that I teach also enjoy being able to repeat learning tasks on the VLE until they get 100%; it has helped their language accuracy enormously and they have been able repeat tasks at their own pace.
However, this independence does have its drawbacks. For example, as a distance learner it's very easy to get behind with work if you're not being chivvied along; BBV can tend to be writing based which means a lot of extra reading is needed as well as background academic articles. I tend to print out course materials to read when I have the chance. Also reading from a page reduces the eye strain that I'm experiencing these days due largely to the amount of back-lit screen reading we teachers do, as well as having data-projectors facing us at the front of the classroom. I worry as well that educators could over-rely on the VLE as a method of gathering evidence about the student's engagement in the course judging participation and understanding too much by tracking of how much access students have made of the VLE and their volume of postings.
So, I think that a big drawback of a VLE in comparison to F2F teaching is that the VLE cannot tell us the non-verbal and/or unwritten interactions that take place in a classroom setting. As teachers we get so much information about our students' individual needs by observing their responses to class tasks and their peers - this is certainly the case in the field of language teaching. There's also the pastoral element of being a teacher to consider as well. In a F2F setting we can easily see if students are losing motivation, having difficulties or needing additional support.
As well as this, it's so much more time-consuming to write one's opinions down in an accessible way than it is to verbalise them to a group in class. However that in itself could be seen as a benefit: the need to present opinions in a publishable form hones your academic writing skills.
Some really good thoughts here Rachel! Thanks for the post...
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot to be said for social learning, so whilst for distance students, a VLE type setting, has many advantages, sometimes the off-topic conversations that you have with your peers are equally important when considering the learning process.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. I'm really lucky that I car-pool with the teacher in charge of developing Ed. Tech. courses at our college so get to have some valuable conversations with her. A bit annoying for the others in the car though!
ReplyDeleteI am now comparing the different modes for the two courses I am taking, this one where you have to keep up with the weekly classes, and Media and Information literacy which you can go about with your own pace. Which do you think is a better mode of study? Although M & IL does not require that you keep up with your week material, I am always worried that if I postpone a week's material, things will get out of hand and I will end up losing control and getting stuck at the end with all the material at once. On the other hand, I have had a rough week and I am trying very hard to keep up with the Emerging Technologies course discussion and activities. I can't say which mode fits me more, but it made me feel how important time management is.
ReplyDeleteI think distance learning teaches us time management and helps us organize our other activities as well. I think it will leave an effect on me even after I (hopefully!) finish the MA.
Hi Deena,
ReplyDeleteI must say for me I prefer being held to a lot of short deadlines because my life can be tumultuous and it's easy for me to get distracted from the studies. With short deadlines I know that I'm on track to a point, not too much catching up to do. Also when discussions are happening with other course members I prefer to be current because if you look at a discussion more than a week after it has taken place it's difficult to get involved. Have been having rough time recently too but have found the Manchester tutors are very supportive if we let them know about stuff.